The final return

Today I am flying to California with a one-way ticket. My new position within IBM fortuitously requires me to be located in the West. Charlottesville has been wonderful, but there is no place like home, especially a home with beaches, mountains, sunshine and family.

I will not move out of state again. I plan to die in California.

Facebook friends from high school

I was just befriended on Facebook by someone I haven't seen since high school graduation more than 20 years ago. Has something similar happened to you? Please share your story.

It is a great day to be an American

The New Niners

The San Francisco 49ers are showing signs of greatness again. It has been a long time. Here a few end-of-season factoids that give me great optimism for next season:

• New head coach Mike Singletary is 5-4. That is a better winning percentage than 16 coaches in the NFL. Given the sorry history of interim coaches generally, any coach who wins more than he loses is showing awesomeness. He is also the first Niner head coach coach since Steve Mariucci (1997-2002) to have a winning record.
• Frank Gore's 58 yards rushing in yesterday's win over Washington gave him 1,036. It's the first time a 49ers back has run for three straight 1,000-yard seasons.
• Starting QB Shaun Hill is now 5-0 at Candlestick, and 7-3 as a starter. This is the best Niner QB record since Jeff Garcia.
• Isaac Bruce finished with 835 yards receiving, the most by a receiver since Terrell Owens's in 2003.
• Patrick Willis was the NFL tackle king last season, but this year he'll have to settle for second. Willis had seven stops Sunday, leaving him with 141 for the season (13 fewer than Cleveland linebacker D'Qwell Jackson). Still, Willis is a beast.

GO NINERS!

America is back! May she never leave us again

It's a great day for Democrats and Republicans alike. For Democrats, Barack Obama was elected President. For Republicans, there was finally dancing in the streets and Americans greeted as liberators :)

People around the world poured into the streets in jubilation and even tore down a statue of Cheney.

Our long national nightmare is over

No republican deserves to remain in office after these last eight horrific years. Throw them out. All of them. At every level.

A new beginning, again

49er coach Mike Nolan was fired yesterday, mid-season. Looks like my prediction was accurate, although I didn't expect it to come true so soon.

Good riddance to this stubborn, in-denial disaster. At 18-37, he leaves with the second worst win-loss record in NFL history (of coaches who coached more than 50 games). At least he left in a classy way.

I wish the best of luck to interim coach Mike Singletary, who, while clearly understanding the game of football and commanding the respect of players, has never been a head coach, or even offensive or defensive coordinator.

I'll say this about the York family, who owns the team: I have bad-mouthed them mercilessly in the past. Nevermore. They spend money where needed, they stay out of the head coaches way, and they have the guts to make tough decisions. They have earned my loyalty. Interestingly, if rumors are to be believed, the York's son Jed fired Nolan. Seems he might have a bit of Uncle Eddie in him! Gives me hope for the future of this once mighty and now broken franchise.